Preview: South Pontotoc Cougars vs. Lafayette Commodores
The South Pontotoc Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the Lafayette Commodores at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. South Pontotoc's defense has only allowed 29.7 points per game this season, so Lafayette's offense will have their work cut out for Lafayette.
Last Tuesday, South Pontotoc beat East Webster 48-37. Given South Pontotoc's advantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 37th, while East Webster is ranked 138th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Lafayette had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 34 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Bruce 74-47 on the road. With that win, Lafayette brought their scoring average up to 51.6 points per game.
It was another big night for Madison Smith, who shot 5-for-13 from beyond the arc and dropped a double-double on 31 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it two consecutive games in which she has scored at least 25% of Lafayette's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jadyn Herod, who scored 13 points along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
South Pontotoc's victory bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Lafayette, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
South Pontotoc beat Lafayette 57-50 in their previous matchup back in November of 2022. The rematch might be a little tougher for South Pontotoc since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
